Lydia Craig interviews David Paroissien, Emeritus Professor of English, UMass Amherst, on the occasion of his retirement as editor of Dickens Quarterly after more than thirty years.

Dickens Quarterly was founded in 1970 at the Modern Language Association Convention. How did you first become editor of Dickens Quarterly, and for how long have you inhabited this role?

I eased into the role gradually, serving first as Book Review Editor for Dickens Studies Newsletter from 1979 to December 1982. Following the retirement of Duane DeVries as General Editor, I was appointed to succeed him and took over the role with full editorial responsibilities beginning in March 1983. A year later, the trustees of the Dickens Society approved the change in title to Dickens Quarterly, the better to reflect the journal’s evolving role.

Describe some major/minor changes that have taken place over the years in terms of the journal’s content and design. What are you most proud of in terms of your editorial activities?

I think the journal’s evolution resembles the progress of the Aesopian tortoise. We were far from flashy when the ur-journal began. The first issue ran to 12 pages, a hand typed, mimeograph affair. I suspect copies of this are almost as rare as a monthly installment of Bleak House on ebay or Google books. But the comparison goes no further than that! 

Thanks to the work and dedication of many Dickensians – familiar and household names like Bob Partlow, Bob Patten, Lionel Stevenson, Jerry Meckier, Bill Axton, Dick Dunn, Duane DeVries, Barry Qualls, Joel Brattin, Nancy Metz, Deirdre David and Bob Heaman – the tortoise kept to its course and trundled along. Its protective shell remained unchanged – Cruikshank’s sketch of himself and Dickens looking down on a cheering crowd from a hot-air balloon against a green background – but the contents underwent a gradual metamorphosis.

One important step occurred in 1975. In September the production of the journal moved from Louisville, KY to Amherst, MA. Relocated there, Stas Radosh took over from Bill Axton and Mary Rosner, two loyal Dickensians at the University of Louisville who served the journal well. With the change the journal acquired the expertise of Stas, a talented UMass librarian who combined a specialty in Polish literature and culture with an admirable command of electronic typesetting. Under Stas, the appearance of the journal was transformed, professionalized and then sent to Tiger Press in Northampton, MA for printing and distribution.

More refinements followed in 2012 when subscribers received the March bicentenary number held together by perfect binding rather than with wire staples. This issue was longer and well-illustrated. Of the plates, I would single out three: a copy of a sketch of the young author by the internationally renowned artist Barry Moser, and two photos, one of an extract from the Baptism Register of Portsea Parish Church, and a second of the font of Portsea parish church, where Charles John Huffam, son of John and Elizabeth Dickens, was christened on 4 March 1812. Then in June of the same year, Dickens Quarterly published a scoop: the text of a brilliant speech by Rowan Williams, the 104^th Archbishop of Canterbury. Originally delivered in Westminster Abbey at the wreath laying ceremony to mark the Bicentenary of Dickens’s birth on 7 February 1812, the Archbishop’s address ranks with the obituary delivered by Dean Arthur Penrhyn Stanley in the same place.

Recently there have been several themed issues of DQ, such as “Dickens and Wills.” Looking back, do you have a favorite issue, series, or period of DQ?

I hesitate to single any one out. But I would like to mention the series we ran on the 150^th anniversary publication of Dickens’s first six novels. This project, as with different aspects of Dickens Quarterly, flourished because individuals other than those who contributed essays assisted. Barry Moser, already mentioned, undertook to draw five new and powerful images of Dickens based on early portraits and photographs when the series was launched in March 1986.

Invaluable help of a different kind came from Vincent DiMarco and Robert E. Bagg, former chairs of the UMass English Department, whose support I greatly appreciated. Equally deserving of mention are Trey Philpotts and Natalie McKnight. Their loyalty and support – Natalie as the keeper of the journal’s subscription list for many years and Trey as the Book Review Editor and now Co-Editor with Dominic Rainsford – have played a significant role in keeping Dickens Quarterly going. Most recently, the transfer of the journal’s production to Johns Hopkins University Press, a challenging task superbly planned by Diana Archibald, removed at one blow the tedium Natalie endured keeping track of subscriptions.

The move to Johns Hopkins UP five years ago has proved the foundation of two other developments: it stabilized our subscription base and added to the journal’s revenues generated by opening its contents to electronic subscribers. In turn, other options have become available such as the inclusion of an eight-page ‘signature’ of special paper suitable for color images. Beginning with a handsome reappraisal of Marcus Stone’s work by Leon Litvack in September 2012, we have run several others, including a series illustrating the Paris of the Uncommercial Traveller by John Edmonson, Nathalie Vanfasse’s impressive contribution illustrating 13 different American banknotes, Joline Zigarovich’s study of Pip’s encounter with “the Terrible Stranger,” the “fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg,” who never made it visually into the first editions of Great Expectations but proved wonderfully inspiring in the hands of several illustrators before coming alive to cinema audiences in Finlay Curry’s acclaimed Magwitch in the opening sequence of David Lean’s 1946 version of Great Expectations. More recently, journal readers have been treated to a series of portraits of Dickens undertaken by Herbert Watkins, sight of the annotations in the complete set of All the Round discovered by Jeremy Parrott, and the drawings of the Danish Christian Kongstad Petersen, whose unique and powerful response to Dickens has intrigued my successor.

As well as editing Dickens Quarterly, you have simultaneously juggled many projects centred on Dickens studies, such as Dickens Journals Online. Did your work with DQ help you develop strategies for these other Dickensian series and resources?

Looking back, what strikes me is the interconnectedness that characterizes my various projects. The key person in this respect is Amanda Helm, the journal’s current Production Editor. When Stas Radosh signaled his wish to step down I immediately proposed Amanda as his replacement. Knowing Amanda from her work with me and Susan Shatto as General Editors of the Dickens Companions Series, I had no hesitation in suggesting her name to members of the Society’s Executive Committee. For her part, Amanda accepted the offer to step in and since March 2007 has proved a truly invaluable resource. What better authority is there than the words of Bob Tracy. Referring to Amanda’s work on his recent contribution to the “Dickens and Wills” issue, he wrote: “It has been a pleasure to work with Amanda. So clear in her instructions and meticulous in following through. [A] very comfortable fit for those of us with limited tech skills.”

What are your thoughts as you reflect on your legacy as editor of Dickens Quarterly as you prepare to pass the torch to Dominic Rainsford? Are there any academic peers or team members who you will miss collaborating with on this particular publication?

I hesitate to pronounce on my ‘legacy’ beyond noting that Dominic takes on a tested enterprise. In his very able hands and with the good will and friendship of the many who supported my efforts, the journal will continue to flourish under new leadership equal to the challenges ahead. For my part, working on the journal has been an enduring and most enjoyable experience. A year ago at the annual dinner in Tübingen Natalie McKnight likened the Dickens Society to a family whose vitality and support extended to all members. Retiring in December 2019 as editor, I presume to remain part of that family as it grows and transforms itself into a new generation of Dickens scholars.